Cybercrime cost small businesses $55,400 a report on average, ASD says

The Australian Signals Directorate's yearly cyber threat report, out in late October, also says AI is making scams and phishing faster and more convincing.

82,000 cybercrime reports in a year, about one every six minutes

ASD's Australian Cyber Security Centre responded to more than 1,500 incidents in 2025-26, up over 20%. The small business cost is about the same as last year. Medium businesses reported $141,300, up 45%.

Phishing emails with no spelling mistakes, that look like they come from your boss

The report says AI helps scammers write cleaner emails and automate targeted ones, posing as a colleague, manager or relative. ASD says AI makes these scams easier to run at scale, but they still work the same way.

Whoever approves payments or holds client data is the usual target

ASD says scammers go after staff who can pay bills, change systems or see sensitive information, and people who regularly deal with outsiders. Health care and professional services reported the most incidents outside government.

Turn on MFA or passkeys and keep software up to date

ASD calls these basics essential. It says unpatched systems keep causing incidents, one of them through a weakness first found in 2008. Report anything suspicious at cyber.gov.au.